This invention generally relates to an arrangement for and a method of collecting data by various modalities, and transmitting the collected data by wireless transmission to a remote host and, more particularly, to independently manually triggering a plurality of the data collecting modalities and/or the data transmitting function.
Various optical readers and optical scanning systems have been developed heretofore for reading indicia such as bar code symbols appearing on a label or on the surface of an article. The bar code symbol itself is a coded pattern of indicia comprised of a series of bars of various widths spaced apart from one another to bound spaces of various widths, the bars and spaces having different light reflecting characteristics. The readers in scanning systems electro-optically transform the graphic indicia into electrical signals, which are decoded into alphanumeric characters that are intended to be descriptive of the article or some characteristic thereof. Such characteristics are typically represented in digital form and utilized as an input to a data processing system for applications in point-of-sale processing, inventory control and the like. Scanning systems of this general type have been disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,251,798; 4,369,361; 4,387,297; 4,409,470; 4,760,248; 4,896,026, all of which have been assigned to the same assignee as the instant application. As disclosed in some of the above patents, one embodiment of such a scanning system resides, inter alia, in a hand held, portable laser scanning device supported by a user, which is configured to allow the user to aim the scanning head of the device, and more particularly, a light beam, at a targeted symbol to be read.
The light source in a laser scanner bar code reader is typically a gas laser or semiconductor laser. The use of semiconductor devices as the light source is especially desirable because of their small size, low cost and low voltage requirements. The laser beam is optically modified, typically by an optical assembly, to form a beam spot of a certain size at the target distance. It is preferred that the cross section of the beam spot at the target distance be approximately the same as the minimum width between regions of different light reflectivity, i.e., the bars and spaces of the symbol. At least one bar code reader has been proposed with two light sources to produce two light beams of different frequency.
The bar code symbols are formed from bars or elements typically rectangular in shape with a variety of possible widths. The specific arrangement of elements defines the character represented according to a set of rules and definitions specified by the code or xe2x80x9csymbologyxe2x80x9d used. The relative size of the bars and spaces is determined by the type of coding used as is the actual size of the bars and spaces. The number of characters (represented by the bar code symbol) is referred to as the density of the symbol. To encode the desired sequence of the characters, a collection of element arrangements are concatenated together to form the complete bar code symbol, with each character of the message being represented by its own corresponding group of elements. In some symbologies, a unique xe2x80x9cstartxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cstopxe2x80x9d character is used to indicate when the bar code begins and ends. A number of different bar code symbologies exist, these symbologies include UPC/EAN, Code 39, Code 128, Codeabar, and Interleaved 2 of 5, etc.
In order to increase the amount of data that can be represented or stored on a given amount of surface area, several new bar code symbologies have recently been developed. One of these new code standards, Code 49, introduces a xe2x80x9ctwo dimensionalxe2x80x9d concept for stacking rows of characters vertically instead of extending the bars horizontally. That is, there are several rows of bar and space patterns, instead of only one row. The structure of Code 49 is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,239, which is herein incorporated by reference. Another two-dimensional symbology, known as xe2x80x9cPDF417xe2x80x9d, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,786.
Still other symbologies have been developed in which the symbol is comprised of a matrix array made up of hexagonal, square, polygonal and/or other geometric shapes. Such symbols are further described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,276,315 and 4,794,239. Such matrix symbols may include Vericode, Datacode, and MAXICODE (all trademarks of their respective owners).
In the laser beam scanning systems known in the art, the laser light beam is directed by a lens or other optical components along the light path toward a target that includes a bar code symbol on the surface. The moving-beam scanner operates by repetitively scanning the light beam in a line or series of lines across the symbol by means of motion of a scanning component, such as the light source itself or a mirror disposed in the path of the light beam. The scanning component may either sweep the beam spot across the symbol and trace a scan line across the pattern of the symbol, or scan the field of view of the scanner, or do both.
Bar code reading systems also include a sensor or photo-detector which detects light reflected or scattered from the symbol. The photo-detector or sensor is positioned in the scanner in an optical path so that it has a field of view which ensures the capture of a portion of the light which is reflected or scattered off the symbol. This light is detected and converted into an electrical signal. Electronic circuitry and software decode the electrical signal into a digital representation of the data represented by the symbol that has been scanned. For example, the analog electrical signal generated by the photo-detector is converted by a digitizer into a pulse or modulated digitized signal, with the widths corresponding to the physical widths of the bars and spaces. Such a digitized signal is then decoded, based on the specific symbology used by the symbol, into a binary representation of the data encoded in the symbol, and subsequently to the alpha-numeric characters so represented.
The decoding process of known bar code reading system usually works in the following way. The decoder receives the pulse width modulated digitized signal from the digitizer, and an algorithm, implemented in the software, attempts to decode the scan. If the start and stop characters and the characters between them in the scan were decoded successfully and completely, the decoding process terminates and an indicator of a successful read (such as a green light and/or an audible beep) is provided to the user. Otherwise, the decoder receives the next scan, performs another decode attempt on that scan, and so on, until a completely decoded scan is achieved or no more scans are available.
Such a signal is then decoded according to the specific symbology into a binary representation of the data encoded in the symbol, and to the alpha-numeric characters so represented.
Moving-beam laser scanners are not the only type of optical instrument capable of reading bar code symbols. Another type of bar code reader is one which incorporates detectors based on solid state imaging arrays or charge coupled device (CCD) technology. In such prior art readers the sides of the detector are typically smaller than the symbol to be read because of the image reduction by the objective lens in front of the array or CCD. The entire symbol is flooded with light from a light source such as lighting light emitting diodes (LED) in the scanning device, and each array cell is sequentially read out to determine the presence of a bar or a space.
The working range of CCD bar code scanners is rather limited as compared to laser based scanners and is especially low for CCD based scanners with an LED illumination source. Other features of CCD based bar code scanners are set forth in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/041,281 which is hereby incorporated by reference, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,398. These references are illustrative of the earlier technological techniques proposed for use in CCD type scanners to acquire and read indicia in which information is arranged in a two dimensional pattern.
In an attempt to enable the user readily to position the hand-held reader so as to readily read the symbol, a variety of techniques of aiming the laser light at the indicia are known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,374 describes an aiming light arrangement to assist the user in visually locating and aiming the head at each symbol, the aiming light being a visible non-laser light source. Although the use of a discrete aiming light arrangement did assist the user in reliably aiming the head at the symbol for some applications, another system, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,098, used a multi-position trigger switch in a hand-held laser scanner. The head was arranged to be aimed at the symbol to be scanned during a first operational state in which an aiming pattern was emitted. Once the user had aligned the head properly with respect to the location of the symbol, the trigger switch was actuated again to put the device into a second operational state in which the beam was scanned across the symbol in the normal scanning or reading mode, and the symbol decoded. The same laser was used both to create the aiming pattern and the scanning beam.
European Patent No. 0355355 describes a combination bar code reader and EAS tag deactivator, including an embodiment with a multi-position trigger.
Another bar code reader with a multi-position trigger switch (for a rather different purpose) is disclosed in the article by Grabowski and Wohl, an IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, page 78, Volume 5, No. 5, October 1962.
Yet other aiming and scanning arrangements in which changing from one mode to another is performed in an automatic (i.e., non-manual) manner are described in the series of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,933,538; 5,229,591; and 5,250,791 assigned to the present assignee.
Radio frequency (RF) tags or targets bear data that can be electronically written and rewritten, and that can interrogated or polled remotely, even through opaque surfaces. The tags have RF resonators such as quartz crystals or dipoles. An RF reader activates an RF source and detects the RF response characteristics of the tag to generate data relating to an object with which the tag is associated.
Magnetic stripes bear data that can be electromagnetically written and rewritten, and that can be read by magnetic stripe readers or sensors. The stripes are provided on cards, such as credit, debit or identification cards, each stripe extending along a longitudinal direction generally parallel to a longitudinal edge of a respective card.
In the automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) industry, certain form factors, i.e., specific space allocations for devices having known functionalities, have become standards. One such form factor for a scan engine module known as the xe2x80x9cSE 1200xe2x80x9d has been adopted by the AIDC industry and is produced by Symbol Technologies, Inc. of Holtsville, N.Y., the assignee of the instant application. The SE 1200 module is used in hand-held scanners for reading bar code symbols and has a parallelepiped shape measuring 1-xc2xd inches in length, 1 inch in width, and xc2xe of an inch in height.
However, because this form factor is standardized and, therefore, the space allocated is limited to a certain, fixed size and shape, the functionality of the SE 1200 module is limited as well since additional circuits and functions cannot readily be added to the existing allocated space and circuitry. Also, the input and output interfaces of this module are fixed, and any new functions or circuits must employ the given interfaces.
It is an object of this invention to collect data from a plurality of collectors, and to independently activate the collectors.
It is another object of the invention to transmit data by wireless communication to a remote host, and to independently activate the data transmissions.
It is a further object of the present invention to collect and transmit data by independent triggering actions.
In keeping with these objects, and others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of this invention resides, briefly stated, in an arrangement for, and a method of, processing information. In one embodiment, a plurality of data collectors is provided on a support, each data collector being operative for collecting respective data. A triggering circuit, in accordance with the invention, is operative for independently, manually actuating the plurality of data collectors.
In another embodiment, an actuatable transceiver is provided on the support, and is operative for transmitting data by wireless communication to a host remote from the support. In this case, the triggering circuit is operative for independently, manually actuating one of the data collectors and the transceiver.
In still another embodiment, the triggering circuit is operative for independently, manually actuating the transceiver to transmit one of the data during a first actuation of the triggering circuit, and to transmit another of the data during a second actuation of the triggering circuit.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment, which is described by way of example only, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.